Film Review
After
For Your Eyes Only saw a
healthy jolt of gritty realism being injected into the flagging Bond
franchise, it was business as usual with the next outing for 007 - back
to the outlandish comic book campery of previous years.
Octopussy may be one of the more
enjoyable films of the Roger Moore era (despite its tangled,
multi-tentacled plot), and it certainly offers some of the series' more
spectacular action sequences, but it clearly has no intention of taking
itself too seriously. Indeed, you could easily be forgiven for thinking
this was intended as a send-up of the classic Bond movie, either that
or a partial rip-off of Kubrick's
Dr Strangelove.
One's suspicions that the production team may have had their tongue
firmly in cheek are aroused as soon as we hear an Indian snake charmer
pipe Monty Norman's Bond theme to attract the attention of a passing
007. Roger Moore is, as ever, well serviced with a quip for every
occasion and has plenty of opportunity to flex those eyebrows (which is
just about the only exercise he gets as all of his action scenes are
performed by a stunt double). Unfortunately, things do get a tiny
bit embarrassing when Bond starts doing impressions of Tarzan and
regales us with his quick change routine, appearing variously as a
crocodile, a gorilla and a clown. Apparently, the British secret
service are demanding an awful lot from their employees these
days. All that Moore's predecessors had to do was hold a gun,
drink a few dry vodka martinis and look impossibly cool in a white
texedo.
The fun doesn't stop there, oh no. This time we have two Bond
villains for the price of one, and both are clearly hankering after
having their own TV comedy series if their bid for world domination
fails. In the red corner we have Steven Berkoff as comical commie
general who thinks he can avoid a nuclear war by, er, exploding a
nuclear bomb in Europe, and opposite him, on the pink sunlounger, is
Louis Jourdan as a camp Afghan prince with a suspiciously French accent
and a nice line in Gallic petulance. Bond aficionados (well,
those with a sense of humour) will be glad to know that Q isn't
overlooked in all these laugh-a-minute shenanigans. Desmond
Llewelyn has ample opportunity to show that, beneath that dour
crotchety exterior there lurks a red-nosed, horn-honking vaudevillian
just itching to get out.
Octopussy is much more of a
guilty pleasure than a bona fide classic. It's a lousy Bond film from the
point of view of plot and characterisation (any resemblance to anything
that Ian Fleming ever wrote in his lifetime is purely coincidental) but
that does not stop it being a lot of fun. It is every bit as daft
as the reviled
Moonraker but it just about
manages to keep its feet on the ground, and it helps that there are no
silly laser gun battles in which Bond's most fearsome adversary
inexplicably switches sides.
Roger Moore turns in quite a respectable performance for someone who
had to be persuaded to stay with the role after he had firmly decided
to quit. The EON production team decided to stick with Moore when
they learned a rival Bond film,
Never
Say Never Again, was to be released the same year, with Sean Connery
returning to the role he said he would never, repeat never, play
again. Despite all the hype surrounding this latter film,
Octopussy fared moderately better
at the box office, although that was almost certainly down to Roger
Moore's homage to Johnny Weissmuller.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Sickened by the concessions his leaders have made to Western
governments, renegade Soviet General Orlov concocts a diabolical plan
that will enable the Soviet Union to expand its territory using
conventional forces. By allying himself with Afghan price Kamal
Khan and wealthy circus owner Octopussy, he intends to smuggle an
atomic bomb into a military base in West Germany. When the bomb
is detonated, public outrage will lead the countries of the world to
dismantle their nuclear arsenals, leaving the West weakened for a
military attack. The discovery of a fake Fabergé egg in
East Berlin puts British secret agent James Bond on the path to
unravelling Orlov's dastardly plot. If he fails this time, the
show will certainly go with a bang...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.